WWE went back to three hours for Friday Night SmackDown this week when they hit Buffalo (and hey, why did Michael Cole throw a stray at the Jets while telling us about where they were?!? Don’t they have it bad enough?!?). The Cageside offices were in upheaval over this but I wanted to give them a chance. After all, the blue brand hit one hell of a stride at three hours not all that long ago.
It could be great again!
This will open the door of opportunity for members of the roster who may not have gotten
it otherwise. So I won’t fully judge things based on this episode alone.
Anyway, let’s get to what we were given to start the new year.
Cody Rhodes is the WWE champion but he has a big secret — when he is smiling backstage, he’s really playing dumb. The Netflix “Unreal” cameras may be rolling but they’re playing checkers when he is playing chess.
To be fair, he said this after Randy Orton and Sami Zayn both made clear they’re coming for him and his title, with Drew McIntyre right there on his heels. He’s carrying around a highly sought after prize and he has to have the mentality to withstand that. It’s what separates him.
He’s thankful for the envy the others feel, and he’s even more grateful for the chance to overcome the challenges they present. He is champion, and that won’t change in Berlin.
Finally, McIntyre showed up on the tron to give us the Three Stages of Hell they will go through: he wants a straight wrestling match to prove he can win there, and then a Falls Count Anywhere match so he can beat him up everywhere he wants. If they go to a third fall, it becomes traditional — an old school steel cage match.
But, hey, do you remember the other stipulation even before all this? If Rhodes touches McIntyre before the match he loses the WWE championship. To that end, McIntyre invaded Cody’s tour bus and found a picture of the champ with his father, the late Dusty Rhodes.
“I wish Dusty was still here today to see the man that you’ve become. But I know he’s looking up right now truly, truly ashamed. So many people are thinking it’s going to be a cold day in hell before Drew McIntyre is champion once again… well, I hope Dusty has got a coat down there because it’s about to get real chilly.”
He smashed the picture frame after this, and that’s what sent Cody rushing after him. It was a diversion, giving McIntyre the chance to get to the ring with a trash can and a lighter. Cody was stopped by security before he could get back in, and had to watch McIntyre light the picture on fire right there in the ring, a smile on his face the whole way.
He trashed the picture but Rhodes could never get to him. He remains champion but only because WWE quite literally decided it by not allowing him to do what he so clearly wanted. So what was the point of that stipulation?
Let’s not think too much about that, I guess.
The very best way they could have started this show was exactly the way they did it.
The Miz interrupted the commentary team giving us a preview of the evening to air out a bunch of grievances he has, like the fact that he had to be in Buffalo at all, and that you can’t say Joe Hendry’s name without him appearing, and that he brought back the “Tiny Balls” nickname.
The good news, though, is John Cena is gone now and 2026 is going to be his year. He wins championships — unlike Buffalo — and he’s the locker room leader to put down all the spoiled brats back there.
And that’s when Randy Orton made his return, decked out in a custom Sabres shirt.
Orton got a huge laugh from the crowd when he got in the ring and acted like he was going to RKO poor Miz, who flinched, because of course he did. He got comfy when Randy slapped his shoulder and worked the crowd on the ropes.
A nice welcome back.
The Miz encouraged it when the music finally stopped. Then he tried to act like he was referring to “we” when talking about being the locker room leaders of WWE.
“We could see Miz-KO.”
Orton faked like he was considering it and then hit him with the ol’ RKO OUTTA NOWHERE! They chanted for one more, so he picked Miz up and hit him with another.
That was the whole segment.
Fantastic stuff.
What I didn’t like was how they had Orton outright tell Cody Rhodes backstage after a commercial break that “after you beat Drew McIntyre next week, I am coming for this.” That being the WWE championship, of course.
They did plenty of work setting up an Orton turn after Rhodes first won the title, and it now appears they aren’t doing anything to pay that off. That kinda sucks! It would have been fun.
Oh well.
All the rest
- They did an eight-woman tag team match to get all the top contenders in there, with the babyfaces teaming up to take on the heels, even though everyone is most focused on The Kabuki Warriors and knocking them off. It was a fun match, one that saw Iyo Sky pin Kairi Sane to pick up the win for their team. This was done to preview their tag title match on Raw next week. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss posed with the duo but did so making clear with a few glances that they’re going to be next assuming Sky and Ripley take care of business.
- Jordynne Grace could be coming to the blue brand, and that’s probably the best thing for her. We’ll see if she can do better there than NXT.
- Remember Kit Wilson deciding to wage war against toxic masculinity? I am cry laughing at the fact that they booked him to start that war this week and friggin’ Matt Cardona was the guy to answer the call. Commentary let us know he’s officially part of the roster now, and we can expect to see much more of him going forward. What a major free agent signing, huh?!? The Indie God is back under corporate rule.
- The Wyatt Sicks ditching their masks, save for Nikki Cross, somehow made me take them a lot more seriously in their pre-tape promo on Solo Sikoa and his MFTs. Uncle Howdy, in particular, is much more compelling with this presentation. Stick with this!
- Sami Zayn has never won the world championship, and it broke his heart to have to tell his son that fact. When asked why, he had to admit he didn’t have a good answer. But he’s done talking about winning it and in 2026 he’s just going to do it. That’s when none other than Trick Williams hit the scene, looking like a big time star. I will say, I didn’t realize how much Booker T actually helped his presentation for his entrance theme until Corey Graves more or less said he couldn’t live up to it. Anyway, Trick Willy said he was there simply because Nick Aldis campaigned for his services and he’s here to win a world title because he’s got everything it takes to do just that, unlike Zayn. I actually loved introducing Trick this way, presenting him like the arrogant asshole looking down on a star who is still chasing the ultimate dream. Sami promised to humble him. I thought both guys were great here and they established an interesting program going forward.
- Carmelo Hayes is United States champion now, and that means making sure he looks and feels like the star they want him to be. The H1M entrance is great, and a title around his waist makes it feel that much bigger. He took care of business against Johnny Gargano in a fun match, and they put him over big for passing a tough first test. The future looks bright there.
- Chelsea Green got a visual pin on Giulia but Kiana James ensured it wasn’t one counted by the referee. Not long after, we had a new United States champion. She’s got the look and feel but Green is just so damn good at character work that it’s hard to get excited about this. Just me?
- They ended this show with the Ambulance match between Aleister Black and Damian Priest, and WWE is still a babyface territory, with Priest scoring the feud ending victory by straight up choke slamming the dude off the top of the Ambulance and through tables set up below. That earned “this is awesome” chants, and it deserved it by this point. It genuinely felt like everything they did in this match took a toll on both guys, and they won’t be the same coming out of it. Priest, in particular, did an awesome job of selling that while also seeming legitimately grateful to have emerged victorious. A fun way to end the evening.
I enjoyed the hell out of this show. Three hours may not be so bad!
Grade: A-
Your turn!
